Day Three Hundred and Thirty Three - Go Train

Dear all,

So sorry for the brief hiatus.. Darren and I have been living in a whirl wind being launched into that strange 'in between' stage in moving where we have transferred all of our things into our new place but are yet to have started any serious unpacking. Darren has been working around the clock to get all the technology back in working order; a huge effort on his part.

Anyway, as I am still diving into the deep ocean of immigration paperwork, today I took a mini sojourn to Toronto to visit the Japanese Embassy in order to get my criminal check done.

I am still not entirely comfortable about driving on the highway, so instead, D suggested I drive to Barrie and hop on the 'Go Train'.

http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/default.aspx

The only 'issue' with this wonderful service is that, due to the fact that their primary cliental are commuters.. the train times are 'interesting' at first glance, the latest train leaving at 7:18am... [gulp].

I knew it would be worth it ( no highway + no parking = no stress) so I set off at 5:30am, grabbed a starbucks en route and made my way to Barrie.

It's funny how the inner-city girl comes out in me once in a while as I had [without realizing] left at the very last minute in order to catch the last train which I saw, standing by the platform as I drove [hastily] across the highway. ...

I then had an out-of-body experience as I left my car ran the terminal, threw my card at the ticket machine, pulled out a day pass and threw myself on the train. I had made it!

As we are in the middle of 'March Break' the train was pretty empty and I had a blissful ride into Toronto where, 90 minutes later, I stepped off at Union Station ready for the fabulous day that awaited.

The Japanese embassy was a stone throw from the station ( another major plus point) and I skipped over, with my second coffee in hand, ready for my interview.

http://www.toronto.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/english/english.htm

Despite the horrific events in Japan at the moment, my experience was amazing. I was in and out in 10 minutes; it was amazing.

More fabulous adventures from Toronto in the next post ( as today started so early, I am counting it as a two-day adventure. I think this is valid).

And in other news:

1. Sending a million love vibes to beautiful Japan at this awful time.